October 8 2024 16:00
Airbnb, Inc. the American company which operates an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays and experiences in various countries and regions has asked the South African government to lobby for the implementation of a national host registry.
Airbnb acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. There have been concerns that Airbnb is driving up short term rental prices in Cape Town. There are only a few thousand Airbnb rental units in the city.
Airbnb’s recently published research showed that its short-term rentals did not substantially reduce the availability of longer-term rentals in Cape Town, nor did they drive up rent significantly.
The company is calling for a registry which would give authorities better visibility of hosting activity around the country and enable some actual regulation of the short-term rental space in SA’s most popular city for tourists.
Globally, Airbnb has faced complaints that its presence pushes up short term rental costs. Barcelona’s government wants to ban short-term rentals from November 2028 onward. Mayor Jaume Collboni hopes to return about 10,000 apartments listed on Airbnb and other platforms back to the housing market.
Airbnb’s research says there is “little to no correlation between Airbnbs and rising rents”.
Dedicated listings on Airbnb, that is homes which are shared more than the typical listing, accounted for less than 0.9% of all formal housing units in the city, which is less than 1.5% of the number of additional housing units needed to meet growing housing demand over the next four years.
With the median rent in Cape Town being R10,500, a price elasticity analysis in the report shows that if all Airbnb dedicated listings were added to long-term rental supply, this would lead to an average reduction in rent of only R69 a month.
Airbnb has 5-million hosts on its platform worldwide with 65,000 listings in SA. In 2023, hosts on Airbnb saw more than 700,000 guest arrivals to Cape Town, contributing an estimated R14.4bn to GDP, including 42,000 jobs supported and R7bn in labour income.
247@propertyflash.co.za
